1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording medium drive for managing information in a recording medium. In particular, the invention relates to a head assembly comprising: a head slider; an electrode terminal exposed at the surface of the head slider; a support member receiving the head slider on the surface of the support member; an electrically-conductive material exposed at the surface of the support member; a microactuator connecting the head slider to the support member; and an electrically-conductive wire connecting the electrode terminal to the electrically-conductive material.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication 2001-210036, a head assembly having a microactuator is well known in the technical field of hard disk drives (HDDs). The microactuator in the head assembly of this type includes a pair of piezoelectric elements elongating and shrinking in response to supply of electric voltage. One ends of the piezoelectric elements are fixed to the support member, namely, to a so-called flexure. The other ends of the piezoelectric elements are fixed to the head slider. One of the piezoelectric elements elongates while the other of the piezoelectric elements shrinks. The swinging movement of the head slider is realized in this manner relative to the flexure.
Electrode terminals get exposed at the end surface near the inflow end of the head slider in the head assembly disclosed in the aforementioned publication. The electrode terminals are utilized to take out the output from the read head element mounted on the head slider. Likewise, the electrode terminals are utilized to supply an electric current to a write head element mounted on the head slider. Electrically-conductive wires are formed to establish electric connections between the electrode terminals on the head slider and wiring patterns extending over the flexure.
As is apparent from the aforementioned publication, ends of the piezoelectric elements are adhered to the flexure. Spaces are inevitably defined between the other ends of the individual piezoelectric elements and the flexure due to the thickness of the adhesive. When the head slider and the flexure are simultaneously held between a pair of clamp members during wire-bonding, the piezoelectric elements should suffer from bending stresses. If the head slider is solely held between the clamp members as disclosed in the aforementioned publication, the piezoelectric elements may be released from the bending stresses. However, the structure of the flexure should get complicated. This is not preferable.